


Midnight Ride

by IBoatedHere



Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, I don't know just take it, M/M, Missing Scene, i guess, vague spoilers for 3.9
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-16 21:07:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7284820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IBoatedHere/pseuds/IBoatedHere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caleb goes straight to Ben with the intelligence from Anna and Abigail. </p><p> </p><p>AKA- me grabbing a shoehorn and shoving some Tallster back into this show because someone's gotta do it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midnight Ride

He doesn't think about Arnold at all. 

He doesn’t think about the men that have died or will die as a result of his betrayal. 

Washington or Lafayette or his other aides, all grouped together and lined up for an easy kill in one place. 

The horse that rides too hard and too fast or the skinner he leaves her with. 

He doesn’t spare a second thought for himself even when he can barely remember the ride up to West Point. One minute he was sitting beside a fire talking to men he knew well enough to call his friends and the next he’s pushing past guards to get to Ben. 

Ben is all he thought about it. 

Being so close to Arnold- a traitor, a dangerous man. He’s heard stories about his temper and seen it first hand as he spat accusations at men in Philadelphia, called Ben by his full name and rode off. Caleb never liked him. Not from the very beginning when Ben had admiration in his voice for a man he’d never met as he told him “imagine having your horse shot out from underneath you….” Caleb didn’t believe it then and he knows not to believe it now. 

Arnold with all that fire and so much to lose. Ben with his own undercurrent of heat and naturally inquisitive nature. If Ben is able to figure it out before Caleb gets there, and he certainly doesn’t put it past him, the consequences could be too much for Caleb to bear. 

Ben’s the first one to get to him. He’s pushing the guards to the side as Caleb pushes them back and finally Caleb sees an opening big enough for him to slip through and he’s forehead to collarbone with Ben. 

He’s talking, asking Caleb’s what’s wrong and what he’s doing here.

Washington is standing behind him and it’s all Caleb can do to extend his arm and shove the papers into his hands. They’re rumpled and some of the ink is probably smudged from his sweaty hand but the meaning is still there. 

Benedict Arnold Traitor is still legible. 

Lafayette and Hamilton are still sitting at the table looking concerned and the hilarity of the situation hits Caleb.

He rode all this way- all night nonstop, stole a horse at gunpoint, fought his way through two guards to pass this information on and Ben was sitting here eating breakfast without a care. 

He’d laugh if he thought he could get the proper amount of air in his lungs. Right now his heart is beating so fast in chest he’s sure Ben can feel it against his own and if Ben wasn’t holding him up right now, grip firm but gentle on across his shoulders and at his elbow, he’s sure he’d be on the ground. 

“Is this true?”

“What is it?”

“Is he alright?”

Ben hauls him tighter to his chest with one arm so he can lean back and read the papers. He nods when he recognizes Anna’s handwriting and loops his arm around Caleb’s shoulder. 

Everyone scrambles and Caleb’s ushered off to a tent that he assumes Ben is staying in. The bed is softer than he’s used to but it might be his body playing tricks on him. He’s coming down from a massive spike of excitement and anywhere where he’s not on his feet or on the back of his horse is bound to feel good. 

Ben had pushed him into it then told him not to move. He pushed him harder when Caleb had started to protest by lifting his shoulders off the surface and said “I want to go with you.”

Ben shook his head. “Stay, you’ve done enough.”

 

*****

 

Caleb hears a shot but he’s not sure if he’s dreaming or not. 

 

*****

 

When Ben comes back it’s still light out but he closes the tent flaps and secures them like he would if it was time for him to sleep. 

“Where is everyone else?”

“Together figuring out what to do.”

“Why aren’t you with them?”

“They wanted me to check on you. You know they’re saying you’re a hero and they’re right.”

“All I did was pass along information. It’s Anna and Abigail that deserve the credit.”

“I’ll make sure they know that.” He leans back against the desk in the tent and cross his arms over his chest. He seems uncomfortable which is something he rarely is while they’re alone. 

“Are you okay? I heard a shot.”

Ben looks up at him, startled. Then he very carefully avoids eye contact and says “I missed. I figured I’d at least try.”

Caleb lets him have a moment and doesn’t push it. He knows Ben’s not one to miss a shot. I he wants to hit the target he will. Instead he goes in a different direction but it’s not any better. 

“They’re not upset with you, are they?”

“No. Washington knew him better than I did. He was the one who passed him over for a promotion and sent him to Philadelphia. He sent him here. No one is thinking about me.”

Caleb swings his legs off the side of the bed and braces his hands on his knees. 

“I should have seen it coming.”

There it is.

“Oh, Ben, c’mon.”

“This is my job. I should have known. Looking back at it now…”

“You’re being too hard on yourself.”

“What else am I letting slip past?”

“It’s not your fault.”

“You never liked him.”

“Are you listening to a word I’m saying to you?”

“What?”

Caleb sighs. “This isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known.You Said it yourself, Washington knew him best.”

“It’s not Washington’s job to look after things like this.”

“And you can’t do everything. You ask too much of yourself.”

“Anna told me I ask too much of others.”

“Well, she’s not wrong but that starts with you.”

“Someone once told me I should cut myself some slack.” 

“He sounds very wise. And handsome.”

Ben smiles, finally. It's a small thing, Caleb wants more, but he still feels like it could light up the whole tent. 

“How are you? You didn't look well when you came in. Can't say I blame you, you did ride all night.”

“I wish I got here sooner. You might have been able to catch him.” 

“If I'm not able to blame myself then neither are you. You'll probably get a promotion out of this.”

“I stole a horse.” 

Ben laughs again.

“I'm sure Washington will overlook that.”

“I don't care about the promotion.”

“You might be the only one to ever say that.”

“I only thought of you.”

Ben stops laughing. His smile fades. Caleb is directly responsible for both. 

His chest still burns. He had caught his breath but it's slipping away again, going ragged across his lips just like his confession did. His mouth tastes like metal. Like blood. 

The last time he felt like this was when he overheard a boy in a torn up uniform tell an even younger boy that there was an ambush. A group of Connecticut Dragoons. He didn't think there had been any survivors. 

He swore he'd never let that happen again. He'd do whatever he could to keep him safe and this was too close a call. 

“If I didn’t make it here on time and something happened to you I wouldn’t have missed when I took the shot and then I probably would have turned it on myself.”

“Caleb, no, that’s…” His voice is harsh and loud like he’s giving an order only he doesn’t know what it’ll be. “You can’t say that. Whatever happens to me-.”

“Happens to me too.” He pauses then adds “sorry,” and has to lean back because suddenly Ben is kneeling in front of him with his fingernails digging into the tops of his thighs just hard enough for him to feel it beneath the fabric of his pants.

Caleb reaches out to his put his hands on his shoulders. He has to angle down a bit and he finds it so odd that he’s the one doing that instead of Ben. Ben has always been taller and even with Caleb’s boisterous laugh and personality he’s always thought Ben was the biggest person in every room. He takes up so much space in every part of Caleb’s life.

“Whatever happens,” Ben says, “you keep going.”

Caleb tapped his fingers across his shoulders and his thumb brushed against the side of his neck. “No.”

Ben groans in frustration and says his name but makes no move to get up. Caleb’s hands at his shoulders press down anyways. 

“You’re why I’m here. If something happens to you-.”

“It’s more than that,” Ben snaps. 

“It’s not.” 

Ben frowns and sits back on his heels. He’s moved further away but Caleb goes with him, leaning forward and refusing to let go. Instead he moves closer with his hands more firmly on the side of his neck. 

Ben seems to bite back a sentence and Caleb feels him swallow it down with his thumb presses to the hinge of his jaw.

He lifts one his hands and cups it to the side of Ben’s face. When Ben leans into it Caleb’s breath comes out in a harsh pant.

Caleb has been fighting this war for years but this right here seems like the more dangerous part. He’s so afraid to take this next step.

“I don’t know what to do,” Caleb whispers and Ben nods before he slides one hand further up his thigh and the other holds the back of his neck. 

It’s a quiet and tentative little kiss in the middle of the day in the middle of camp but it feels like something they should have been doing all along. 

It deeps with Caleb’s hand in Ben’s hair and Ben’s hand digging into Caleb’s hip but then they pull back and it’s a brush of lips and the feather light touch of eyelashes against each other's cheeks before Ben is pushing in close again and trying to slide his fingers beneath Caleb’s shirt. 

Ben finally pulls back enough to look Caleb in the eyes and stroke his fingers against his cheeks. 

“I like that your beard is back,” Ben tells him and Caleb laughs loud enough for anyone walking past to hear. 

“Me too,” Caleb says, softer this time. He kisses him again and puts his hand over Ben’s heart.

It beats in time to his own.


End file.
